"If we lose the moral values then we will lose," General Yaalon said at a rare press conference.

"We have discussed the ethicial issues with all our officers over the last two weeks. This is a source of strength for us because we are the army of the people."

Public confidence in the military, which claims it is one of the most ethical armed force in the world, has been rocked in recent weeks by a series of incidents including the shooting of a 13-year-old schoolgirl in Gaza and disturbing images of soldiers abusing the corpses of Palestinians.

The military announced on Monday it had opened an inquiry into the killing of a Palestinian militant near the West Bank town of Jenin and suspended the special unit members involved in the operation that led to his death.

Yaalon acknowledged that a majority of the victims of the four-year Palestinian intifada, which has left more than 3,500 Palestinians and nearly 1,000 Israelis dead, were civilians but said that was inevitable given the nature of the conflict.

"Seventy percent of the victims in the conflict are civilians. Confronting the enemy takes places in crowded places and on the roads not on the battlegrounds," he said.

"The Palestinians believe this battleground would be to their advantage," he added.

Yaalon was urged to resign last month by the leading Israeli human rights group B'Tselem for presiding over what it denounced as "a culture of impunity" over Palestinian civilian deaths.

The army chief admitted that there had been some serious mistakes, such as the case of the 13-year-old schoolgirl. The commanding officer of the unit in Gaza has been indicted after being accused by his own soldiers of emptying his weapon into a Palestinian schoolgirl who was already dead.

The charges were leveled just five weeks after the soldier was cleared of any wrongdoing in another army investigation.

"This occured in a very dangerous area where three soldiers have been killed," said Yaalon. "Nevertheless the behaviour of the officer was not proper and so an IDF officer is standing trial for that."

Yaalon also said the army was fulfilling its primary function of protecting the Israeli public. While 450 Israelis were killed in 99 suicide attacks during 2002, only 108 Israelis have died in 14 suicide attacks this year, he said.

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